SilverStone Precision PS03 Case Review – The Budget Knight

Silverstone, in the likes of power supplies, is a well known brand which also caters for high end PC enclosures, and cooling accessories. When it comes to PSU’s, the guys at Silverstone are just top notch.
On the other hand, today at WCCF Tech, we get a chance to review one of its mid tower consumer “Precision” segment PC enclosure, the PS03. This review will show you in depth of it being really the best bang (for your wallet off course.

To start off, the Precision PS03 comes in a cardboard box with foam packaging on the sides to avoid any kind of rough road trip while being shipped.

SilverStone Precision PS03 Specifications

Exterior General Impression

The front looks pretty much similar to a standard casing, only with the front completely covered by mesh grill panels to give it a solid and aggressive look.

There is although something distinctive about the Precision PS03 and that’s the top.Exterior Front-Top

On the top front are your standard Power and Reset switches with their activity lights as well as two USB 2.0 ports exposed.

Further moving on, there is a compartment on top of the case besides the 120/140 mm fan mounting area. Upon opening the compartment further reveals two more USB 2.0 ports along with an audio and microphone jack.

The compartment seems a pretty useful feature to me as it can keep all your usb interfaced hardware hidden from view and giving the case a cleaner look. The side cuts on both sides are supposedly for easier cable management.
There is also a front fan mounting for a 120 mm fan but doesn’t come installed with it.

The front, however, can be removed for access to its three 5.25” inch expansion bays as well as up to six 3.5” inch drives.Exterior Back

The back of the case features the usual cut for a bottom mounted power supply and the motherboard I/O Panel.

There is a single 120 mm Silver Stone Blue LED fan installed in the back that’s the only case fan that comes bundled with the casing. It would’ve been a nice touch if they had bundled a fan controller along in the overall package.

Exterior Side Panels

The side panel facing the interior of the case has a large plexi-glass window that is riveted into place with thumb screws. Something they did miss here was that they haven’t made any cuts for installing any fans for more efficient cooling on the side panel. This would pose an issue for those using graphic cards that have quite a lot of TDP and would pose as a danger of overheating of hardware in the summers as the temperature quite goes up in those days drastically.

Exterior Bottom

The bottom of the case has 4 rubber feet and well that is about it. These do provide a good firm sitting on the place where it’s stored, while keeping the case silent and reducing any kind of vibrations produced by the system.

Interior – General Considerations

The interior is all black which makes for a great show from the side panel window. The interior can be divided into two distinct zones –the motherboard tray area and the drive mount area. The interior is around 161mm deep and would pose a bit of a problem for cpu coolers such as the Cooler Master’s V8.

Interior MotherBoard Tray

The tray has the usual mounts for the motherboard. As this is a mid tower, officially according to SilverStone, this case supports Micro ATX and standard ATX boards. A cutout has been given for the cpu socket for easy installation of different high end CPU cooling solutions with ease. This is a useful feature for those who tend to install large aftermarket coolers and hence would not require them to take out the whole motherboard in process of mounting or changing it.

Now regarding cable management, I’m afraid to say that it’s a no to that. Clearly we can see that on the other side of the case, except the CPU cutout, there isn’t even a single cut on the side for easier cable management. This would leave the wiring coming from the PSU tend to look a lot messy when seen from the plexi-glass side panel. Not to mention hampering airflow in case.
The power supply is installed at the bottom and adequate area is left below the where the PSU sits, leaving plenty of space for air circulation. So that’s one thing we don’t have to worry about when your system is on load! 😀

This case, however supports up to 1 foot or 12.3” inch long graphic cards (i.e. AMD’s 6990) without any issue of clashing with the hard drive bay area.Interior Hard Drive Racks
The unit has a total of 9 forward facing drive bays, all of which are of a tool less design. Almost all contemporary casings have sideward facing hard drive bays for easy installation. The front however, cannot be removed for installing drives rather than have to mount the drives from the inside.

Interior Impression

The case is pretty similar in features and looks with the Cooler Master Elite 335. Only that has a much better looking finish and looks solid unlike the PS03, which supposedly on the case we had got, had bubbles in the paint.

Conclusion

As for the final verdict, the SilverStone PS03 isn’t much of a good case but works fine for home and office use. Keep in mind, the enthusiasts demand quite a lot when choosing a case, and the two top priorities in them are cable management and good airflow.

But keep in mind it’s price as well. One can get a Cooler Master Elite 335 case for lesser the price that has better looks but then again doesn’t include the top I/O hidden bay (I found it pretty useful for hiding external HDD’s), neither the bottom mounted PSU option. Also, the tool-less design is useful for beginners who either just got started in to pc hardware building and just want to make it setup and go. Looks aren’t so much attracting either. So if you want the looks, features of a high end case and cable management, then go for the Cooler Master USP100 that’s available in the same price range.